???? ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-

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Something light to wind down with this weekend: High Maintenance follows a Brooklyn… uh, cannabis trader… as he makes his rounds of deliveries and gets sucked into the lives of his clients. The show portrays the career as one of those jobs where you get up close and personal with others (think a barber or a maid). But this dynamic doesn’t always suit the awkward main character, known as The Guy, who is played by Ben Sinclair. As soft-spoken as he is, The Guy acts more as a vehicle traveling between the other eccentric and complicated characters who really put the oomph in the storyline. High Maintenance has four seasons out now, giving you the chance to watch the characters grow and develop on screen, but always at a distance as The Guy acts more as an observer than an inquirer. The series is great at telling stories without actually telling them, relying more on inner parts of people that aren’t primarily communicated through dialogue. You can catch the entirety of the show on OSN Streaming.

⚽ The second round of the Arab Cup groups will start tomorrow: Bahrain will face Iraq in the Group A at 12pm while the other match in the group between Oman and Qatar begins at 3pm. In Group B, Mauritania will play against the UAE at 6pm, while Syria will face Tunisia at 9pm.

Meanwhile on Saturday, Group C will see Jordan compete against Morocco at 12pm and Palestine against Saudi Arabia at 9pm. As for Group D, Lebanon will play against Algeria at 3pm while Egypt will face Sudan at 6pm. (Egypt emerged victorious from yesterday’s match against Lebanon, ending the game 1-0.)

It’s shaping up to be an intense week in the English Premier League as gameweek 14 wraps up today and gameweek 15 kicks off on Saturday. Tottenham faces Brentford at 9:30pm tonight, while Manchester United competes against Arsenal at 10:30pm.

Saturday will start off with a bang as West Ham faces Chelsea at 2:30pm. A bit later at 5pm, Wolves is up against Liverpool, Newcastle against Burnley and Southampton against Brighton. The last confrontation of the day will be between Watford and Manchester City at 7:30pm.

Spain is also hot on Saturday: Seville hosts Villarreal at 3:00pm, Barcelona plays against Real Betis at 5:15pm, and Atletico Madrid faces Mallorca at 7:30pm. The day will conclude with a match between Real Sociedad and Real Madrid at 10pm.

Bundesliga: Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich have a match at 7:30pm on Saturday.

Down in Italy: Milan plays against Salernitana at 4pm, Inter goes out to face Roma at 7pm, and finally Napoli hosts Atlanta at 9:45pm.

???? EAT THIS TONIGHT-

Maadi’s 3al7atab pizzeria continues to serve up its creative culinary creations. 3al7atab uses a wood brick oven burning at 500°C to cook their pizza in less than 90 seconds and giving it a unique smoky flavor. The restaurant divides their pizzas into three categories: Rossa (with san marzano tomato sauce), bianca (without tomato sauce), and the elusively-named special. From rossa, go for their diavola or scarpetta, while the bianca pizzas offer “The Wolf,” a pizza dedicated to the great chef Wolfgang Puck, which has cream cheese, onion, garlic, salmon, and caviar. From their special menu, try out their tinga chicken pizza which fuses together Mexican flavors. 3al7atab also serves sandwiches and salads, but their pizza is definitely the main attraction.

???? OUT AND ABOUT-

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Standup comedy crew The Elite are heading to ElSawy Culturewheel tonight at 7:30pm.

The Breaking Walls Festival takes place tomorrow to celebrate dance, art, and theater under the umbrella of the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. The event will bring together powerful women to share their stories through creative mediums.

Trip organizers Ghamer are hosting a movie night tomorrow at Wadi Degla Protectorate, with the event also including food, karaoke, and hiking.

TAM Gallery’s Cairo Art Fair VII will kick off tomorrow, featuring works by 150 prominent and emerging artists with a myriad of styles at different price ranges for anyone who would like to purchase a new piece of art. The art fair will take place at Abu Rawash and is open to the public until 31 January. Listen to TAM Gallery cofounder Lina Mowafy talk about how she’s been working to democratize the art scene through ventures such as the annual art fair which gives a chance to newbie artists to get recognition on our podcast, Making It (listen, runtime: 29:19).

???? EARS TO THE GROUND-

How Did This Get Made? — a podcast about the unfortunate series of events that led to some baaad movies being made: The podcast features three hilarious comedians, Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, and Jason Mantzoukas, who together discuss some truly horrible films. How Did This Get Made? has been around for over a decade now, a huge feat for the podcast world, but bad movies keep getting made, giving the trio ample fresh material to roast with their combined sense of humor that ensures you’ll get a laugh or two. With time, the podcast became less about horribly-produced films and more about the people who like to watch them, with the three comedians building an entire community around the show. Celebrity guests are a common addition to many episodes and it seems they all agree sometimes a movie is “so bad that it's amazing”. Recent episodes look at films such as the 1991 film Highlander II: The Quickening, Leprechaun in the Hood, and the Stephen King’s novel adaptation Dreamcatcher.

???? UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-

The intricacies of fast fashion are darker than you can imagine: Unraveled: The Life and Death of a Garment begins by acknowledging the smart branding techniques and storefronts that push consumers to be oblivious to the origins of the clothes you wear. But behind every pair of shoes and every hoodie is a tale of a long production chain that often takes advantage of people, resources, and entire countries. Author Maxine Bédat takes us on one of these journeys, following a pair of jeans from dyeing and weaving factories in China (which pour residue down the drain and effectively pollute drinking water) all the way to sewing floors in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka where women are paid unlivable wages and provided with horrible working conditions. The horrors don’t end there — the next part of the journey follows the need to get rid of these jeans once they’ve concluded their wearable life. The book is an illustrative example of the unequal impacts of global capitalist structures that urge people to buy more without taking into consideration the items’ “real cost.” The book doesn’t necessarily focus on the “green” element, but even sustainable fashion brands have a hidden environmental cost.